It’s interesting to hear the questions I get asked about shooting live music. It’s a genre of photography that not everyone can just go and do so they seem to have a lot of questions. I know that I am very lucky to have the privilege to practice what I do. Colour related issues are my biggest challenge. No matter what colours are happening on a stage, I still try to get as “normal” skin tones as is possible. Red and that blue/purple light is the worst of all. Not only is there the obvious colour cast but it can sometimes rob you of detail too. I often struggle with this but this Sam Roberts show was especially heavy in the blue/purple range. I was able to get an acceptable skin tone after considerable time.
Before and After
When photographing live events such as concerts, we like to compose the perfect shot all the time yet the reality is we can’t. Live stages are usually cluttered with lots of stuff like mic stands, amps, lights, monitors and assorted other distractions. When we are learning composition in photography, we learn that items that don’t help the image hurt it. This is often the case in concert photography too.
A friend who also shoots live music recently posted some of her work with before and after shots to illustrate how some of her work is edited. It got me to thinking about my own work and I got looking around at some photos that might be better images if they had a bit of help. After all, photography is art, right?
Some people are purists and feel that photos should never be altered. That subject is often debated in photography circles but my personal feeling is that my work is my art and I can do whatever I wish to make it my own creation. Another factor that I hear a lot is that some people who don’t wish to spend time at a computer processing. I actually enjoy my time processing images, watching them take shape from raw data to art.
The above images are Max Kermen of Arkells with some simple edits that I feel makes it a much stronger image and really, the biggest change is just simply removing a mic stand and a person. Both of these items were a distraction in the frame. The smoke was added just for a bit of interest in the new negative space that I created.
I would love to hear any thoughts you may have. Feel free to leave a message.
Photo of the Week #143
Today has been a bit of a weird day. Spent part of the day playing with images, both landscape and music. I came up with this one for my blog post as it kind of spoke to me. Our weather today was also pretty chilly and gloomy.
Photo of the Week #142
We were lucky enough when we went to the southwest to be there during monsoon season. That meant that instead of the plain, cloud free blue skies that photographers don’t usually like, we had plenty of clouds and dramatic skies. This shot is the result of me spending a very long time standing in my hotel parking lot attempting to capture lightning. Because of the flatness of the land, I was able to stand comfortably watching this storm and yet, it didn’t rain a drop where I was. This is from Cameron Arizona on the Navajo reservation looking north toward The Grand Canyon. I shot hundreds of frames to achieve this one single frame which was what I wanted. During this social distancing period, one of the things I have done is to go through some older shots and apply some new processing techniques that I hadn’t touched on at the point of capture.
Photo of the Week #141
It’s been too long since I’ve posted a photo here. I started out saying I was going to post at least one photo a week here. Now it is pretty hard to get out here in Ontario. I was out a couple of days ago doing a job for a client and although I was more than keeping my distance on almost deserted streets, I was gaining some unwanted attention in one place so I got out of there pretty quickly. Lots of divided people out there.
On a happier note, I’ve been working on a couple of projects that I have wanted to do for some time. One of these projects involves going through my back catalog and looking for photos. Sometimes I find a photo that maybe I had trouble with, or sometimes I just look at a photo differently and it becomes more interesting to me. Often it’s the fact that my processing skills have improved, allowing me to be more creative. Love it!
The photo below is Loch Broom in Ulapool, Scotland. I love big skies and the clouds here really interested me.
